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{
"title": "Journalist questioned at Dulles International Airport",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-questioned-dulles-international-airport/",
"first_published_at": "2017-07-26T09:49:39.629656Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T20:06:00.868070Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T20:06:00.776527Z",
"date": "2017-01-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"qnn22\">Isma'il Kushkush — a former acting bureau chief of the New York Times in East Africa and International Center for Journalists fellow — was stopped at the border on Jan. 3, 2017, after arriving on a flight from Israel.</p><p data-block-key=\"dyqh2\">Kushkush, a Sudanese-American dual citizen, told the Committee to Protect Journalists that Customs and Border Protection officers were waiting for him as he got off from the plane and took him to the inspection area where they went through his bags and notebooks. He said that he was detained for about an hour and a half. Officers searched through his notebooks and one officer asked for his cellphone.</p><p data-block-key=\"2c16v\">Kushkush has reported being detained at the border on at least five previous occasions between 2013 and 2016. He said that these stops lasted between two to three hours and frequently involved requests for access to his electronic devices.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS18QTR.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"99la9\">International passengers arrive at Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles</p>",
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"case_number": "1:17-cv-11730",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": "returned in full",
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": "law enforcement",
"border_point": "Dulles International Airport",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. citizen",
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": true,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "yes",
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": "yes",
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"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
}
],
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-06-28 00:00:00+00:00) Supreme Court declines to hear case on warrantless electronic device searches at border"
],
"case_statuses": [
"dismissed"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [
"Sudan",
"United States"
],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Isma’il Kushkush (Freelance)"
],
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"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Reporter alleges phone data copied, sent to CIA during Assange interviews",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-alleges-phone-data-copied-sent-to-cia-during-assange-interviews/",
"first_published_at": "2025-03-07T15:43:17.456100Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-17T16:43:17.903405Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-17T16:43:17.830111Z",
"date": "2017-01-01",
"exact_date_unknown": true,
"city": "London",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"n3dpp\">Journalists Charles Glass and John Goetz alleged that their phone data was collected and sent to the CIA while they were visiting WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, England, between January 2017 and March 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"eat8l\">The allegations were part of a 2022 suit that cited Fourth Amendment violations by the CIA and a private security company, and which was dismissed on Feb. 15, 2025, when the court ruled that the spy agency was protected by the state secrets privilege.</p><p data-block-key=\"ctds1\">Assange, who was the target of a long-running case by the U.S. Department of Justice over charges he violated the Espionage Act, lived in the embassy from 2012 to 2019 after Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa granted him asylum from extradition to Sweden on a rape allegation.</p><p data-block-key=\"8d6n1\">Glass and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-alleges-phone-data-copied-sent-to-cia-during-assange-interviews\">Goetz</a> sued the CIA in August 2022, along with two attorneys who had also visited Assange in 2017 and 2018. Glass is a freelancer and former correspondent for ABC News; Goetz is an editor at German radio and TV broadcaster NDR.</p><p data-block-key=\"eki2m\">The suit accused former CIA Director Mike Pompeo of recruiting Spanish private security company Undercover Global to illegally collect information from Assange and his visitors at the embassy, beginning in January 2017 and ending when the Ecuadorian government terminated the company’s contract around April 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"fjg8c\">The suit alleges that the plaintiffs were required to leave their electronic devices with an embassy security guard, and that the information on the devices — including personal photos, emails, texts and GPS data — was then copied and sent to the CIA.</p><p data-block-key=\"e4r16\">It also claims that the journalists’ meetings with Assange were surreptitiously recorded, and that those recordings were sent to the CIA as well.</p><p data-block-key=\"97up8\">The plaintiffs asked the court to order the CIA and UC Global to delete their private communications.</p><p data-block-key=\"988ka\">In December 2023, U.S. District Judge John Koeltl dismissed the part of the suit related to the meeting recordings, ruling that the journalists’ expectation of privacy in their conversations with Assange was “unreasonable.”</p><p data-block-key=\"j0ih\">And in February 2025, Koeltl dismissed the remaining claims related to seizure of their device data, agreeing with the CIA that confirming or denying whether it had seized the data “reasonably could be expected to cause serious—and in some cases, exceptionally grave—damage to the national security of the United States.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cl5c9\">Koeltl acknowledged the plaintiffs’ argument that the data seizure had already been reported on in the media and discussed in Spanish court proceedings against UC Global. But, he argued, public information can still be covered by state secrets privilege.</p><p data-block-key=\"bq6b7\">Neither the journalists nor their attorney responded to requests for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/2017-05-19T160502Z_921926269_RC1B.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"25rgi\">WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks in 2017 from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he sought asylum from 2012 to 2019. Journalist Charles Glass alleged his phone data was copied and sent to the CIA while he visited Assange there.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "1:22-cv-06913",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": "in custody",
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": null,
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"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "work product"
}
],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "England",
"abbreviation": null
},
"updates": [
"(2025-04-15 00:00:00+00:00) Journalists appeal dismissal of suit accusing CIA of copying their phone data"
],
"case_statuses": [
"appealed"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Charles Glass (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Journalist alleges phone data copied, sent to CIA during Assange interviews",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-alleges-phone-data-copied-sent-to-cia-during-assange-interviews/",
"first_published_at": "2025-03-07T15:42:09.471791Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-17T16:42:18.424289Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-17T16:42:18.346241Z",
"date": "2017-01-01",
"exact_date_unknown": true,
"city": "London",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"f7cq5\">Journalists John Goetz and Charles Glass alleged that their phone data was collected and sent to the CIA while they were visiting WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, England, between January 2017 and March 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"fapun\">The allegations were part of a 2022 suit that cited Fourth Amendment violations by the CIA and a private security company, and which was dismissed on Feb. 15, 2025, when the court ruled that the spy agency was protected by the state secrets privilege.</p><p data-block-key=\"dha0n\">Assange, who was the target of a long-running case by the U.S. Department of Justice over charges he violated the Espionage Act, lived in the embassy from 2012 to 2019 after Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa granted him asylum from extradition to Sweden on a rape allegation.</p><p data-block-key=\"2jnhp\">Goetz and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-alleges-phone-data-copied-sent-to-cia-during-assange-interviews\">Glass</a> sued the CIA in August 2022, along with two attorneys who had also visited Assange in 2017 and 2018. Goetz is an editor at German radio and TV broadcaster NDR; Glass is a freelancer and former correspondent for ABC News.</p><p data-block-key=\"4qpol\">The suit accused former CIA Director Mike Pompeo of recruiting Spanish private security company Undercover Global to illegally collect information from Assange and his visitors at the embassy, beginning in January 2017 and ending when the Ecuadorian government terminated the company’s contract around April 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"90c96\">The suit alleges that the plaintiffs were required to leave their electronic devices with an embassy security guard, and that the information on the devices — including personal photos, emails, texts and GPS data — was then copied and sent to the CIA.</p><p data-block-key=\"6ojv4\">It also claims that the journalists’ meetings with Assange were surreptitiously recorded, and that those recordings were sent to the CIA as well.</p><p data-block-key=\"ejsod\">The plaintiffs asked the court to order the CIA and UC Global to delete their private communications.</p><p data-block-key=\"4n70b\">In December 2023, U.S. District Judge John Koeltl dismissed the part of the suit related to the meeting recordings, ruling that the journalists’ expectation of privacy in their conversations with Assange was “unreasonable.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bqc8d\">And in February 2025, Koeltl dismissed the remaining claims related to seizure of their device data, agreeing with the CIA that confirming or denying whether it had seized the data “reasonably could be expected to cause serious—and in some cases, exceptionally grave—damage to the national security of the United States.”</p><p data-block-key=\"33q71\">Koeltl acknowledged the plaintiffs’ argument that the data seizure had already been reported on in the media and discussed in Spanish court proceedings against UC Global. But, he argued, public information can still be covered by state secrets privilege.</p><p data-block-key=\"5k4vf\">Neither the journalists nor their attorney responded to requests for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/2016-02-05T120000Z_102307373_LR1E.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"eqmqh\">Julian Assange speaks to press in 2016 from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, England, where he sought asylum from 2012 to 2019. Journalist John Goetz alleged his phone data was copied and sent to the CIA while he visited Assange there.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "1:22-cv-06913",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": "in custody",
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"actor": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
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{
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"equipment": "work product"
}
],
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"state": {
"name": "England",
"abbreviation": null
},
"updates": [
"(2025-04-15 00:00:00+00:00) Journalists appeal dismissal of suit accusing CIA of copying their phone data"
],
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"appealed"
],
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"targeted_journalists": [
"John Goetz (NDR)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Filmmaker forced to unlock phone at U.S.-Canada border crossing",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/filmmaker-forced-to-unlock-phone-at-us-canada-border-crossing/",
"first_published_at": "2023-06-29T16:54:55.976094Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-10T19:41:21.936157Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-10T19:41:21.836645Z",
"date": "2017-01-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Lewiston",
"longitude": -79.03588,
"latitude": 43.17256,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0qw1q\">New York-based independent filmmaker Akram Shibly was stopped by border authorities and his phone searched when reentering the United States from Canada on Jan. 1, 2017, according to a lawsuit filed on behalf of Shibly and 10 others, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?case_number=1:17-cv-11730\">including three journalists</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"e3vtp\">According to the <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mad.191990.7.0.pdf\">lawsuit</a>, Shibly was returning from a work trip in Toronto via the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge in New York when a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer directed him to a separate area. There officers directed him to fill out a form that included a request for his cellphone password. Shibly initially left the line blank.</p><p data-block-key=\"akj8a\">“A CBP officer examined the completed form and ordered Mr. Shibly to provide his password. Mr. Shibly told the officer that he did not feel comfortable doing so,” the complaint stated. “In an accusatory manner, the officer told Mr. Shibly that if he had nothing to hide, then he should unlock his phone.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bhlot\">Feeling he had no other choice, the lawsuit stated that Shibly unlocked and disengaged the screen lock, also disclosing his social media handles when asked. CBP officers then left the room with the device for at least an hour.</p><p data-block-key=\"480ma\">Shibly was stopped again at the same border crossing again <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/filmmaker-restrained-phone-seized-at-us-canada-border-crossing/\">three days later</a>, where his phone was forcibly taken from him.</p><p data-block-key=\"bf7bn\">The ACLU and others filed the lawsuit in September 2017 against the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and CBP, arguing that the plaintiff’s First and Fourth Amendment rights were violated. In <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mad.191990/gov.uscourts.mad.191990.91.8.pdf\">a 2019 affidavit</a>, Shibly described the searches as an invasion of his privacy.</p><p data-block-key=\"2g116\">“I felt abused and unwelcome returning home,” Shibly said. “I felt like CBP invaded my personal and professional life, and to this day I am still traumatized by these invasive practices.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5cim6\">On Nov. 12, 2019, a federal judge in Boston ruled in favor of Shibly and the other plaintiffs, finding that warrantless searches of electronic devices at the border violate the Fourth Amendment, The Associated Press <a href=\"https://apnews.com/25c8054b9c16409aaef355a1c20e3481\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"fbcb4\">But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First District overturned the federal district court's ruling restricting device searches and, in a judgment filed Feb. 9, 2021, instead denied the plaintiffs claims.</p><p data-block-key=\"7kngr\">“We find no violations of either the Fourth Amendment or the First Amendment,” Circuit Judge Sandra Lynch wrote in the court’s findings. The ruling held that advanced searches of electronic devices at the border do not require a warrant or probable cause, and that basic border searches of electronic devices are routine searches that may be performed without reasonable suspicion.</p><p data-block-key=\"6cbrf\">The ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation <a href=\"https://www.eff.org/document/merchant-v-mayorkas-petition-writ-certiorari\">filed a motion</a> on April 23 petitioning the Supreme Court to hear the case, but the court declined in June, effectively ending the lawsuit.</p><p data-block-key=\"3qtjt\">“Nobody should fear having border agents rummage through their most private information for no good reason,” Nathan Freed Wessler, deputy director of the ACLU’s speech, privacy and technology project, said in a <a href=\"https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-supreme-court-turns-away-digital-device-border-search-cases-2021-06-28/\">statement to Reuters</a>. Wessler added that the Supreme Court will still need to address the privacy issues raised by warrantless searches at the border soon, given disagreements among lower courts.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"case_number": "1:17-cv-11730",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": "returned in full",
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": "law enforcement",
"border_point": "Lewiston-Queenston Bridge",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. citizen",
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "yes",
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{
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"equipment": "cellphone"
}
],
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"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
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"dismissed"
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"United States"
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"categories": [
"Border Stop",
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],
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"Akram Shibly (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Journalist Adam Schrader arrested at Standing Rock",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-adam-schrader-arrested-standing-rock/",
"first_published_at": "2017-07-26T05:42:38.049644Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-07-08T18:57:19.335157Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-07-08T18:57:19.184490Z",
"date": "2016-10-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Morton County",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hf9mx\">Adam Schrader, an independent journalist who contributes to the New York Daily News and other outlets, was arrested on Oct. 27, 2016 while filming clashes between police and protesters. Schrader <a href=\"http://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/journalist-arrested-at-pipeline-protest/article_4df76157-c2ab-57cc-9f2c-936a94bfb5b1.html\">told the Bismarck Tribune</a> that he was arrested after asking a police officer about the use of pepper spray against protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"ccim2\">Schrader was initially charged with endangering by fire or explosion (a class C felony), maintaining a public nuisance (a class A misdemeanor), and engaging in a riot (a class B misdemeanor). The felony endangerment charge was dropped in November 2016, though he still faces the misdemeanor charges. If convicted, he faces one year and 30 days imprisonment and a $4,500 fine.</p><p data-block-key=\"wl4hi\">Police impounded Schrader's rental car following his arrest. Schrader told the Tribune that some items he left in the car — including a notebook and a $400 voice recorder — disappeared while the car was in police custody. A police spokeswoman told the Tribune that police did not search or take any evidence from cars that were impounded.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"71r3x\">Dakota Access Pipeline protesters and police near the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota in October 2016. Independent journalist Adam Schrader was arrested on Oct. 27, 2016, while documenting one of the protests.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Morton County Sheriff's Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2016-10-29",
"detention_date": "2016-10-27",
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"actor": "law enforcement",
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{
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"equipment": "recording equipment"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "work product"
}
],
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "recording equipment"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "work product"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "North Dakota",
"abbreviation": "ND"
},
"updates": [
"(2025-02-05 00:00:00+00:00) Journalist’s equipment still in custody after 2016 arrest at Standing Rock",
"(2017-08-21 19:00:00+00:00) All charges against Schrader dropped"
],
"case_statuses": [],
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"tags": [
"environmentalism",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Equipment Search or Seizure",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Adam Schrader ([New York] Daily News)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
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},
{
"title": "Sara Lafleur-Vetter arrested, charged with three misdemeanors at Standing Rock",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sara-lafleur-vetter-arrested-charged-three-misdemeanors-standing-rock/",
"first_published_at": "2017-11-06T23:57:34.133926Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-03T18:38:17.736430Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-03T18:38:17.603264Z",
"date": "2016-10-22",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Morton County",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"7msqn\">Sara Lafleur-Vetter, an independent photojournalist and filmmaker, was arrested and charged with three misdemeanors while filming protests at Standing Rock for The Guardian U.S. on Oct. 22, 2016.</p><p data-block-key=\"qzwfl\">Lafleur-Vetter told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that Morton County police arrested her while she was filming a prayer walk near the construction site of the Dakota Access Pipeline near State Highway 1806 in North Dakota.</p><p data-block-key=\"848cf\">Lafleur-Vetter said that she identified herself as a journalist to the police, and a video of her arrest <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/johnnykdangers/videos/1825555694352875/\">posted on Facebook</a> shows another person informing police that Lafleur-Vetter was a member of the press. Still, police arrested her.</p><p data-block-key=\"uv7rx\">“It didn’t matter to them who was and wasn’t press,” Lafleur-Vetter said.</p><p data-block-key=\"8ppfc\">She said that she was swept up in a mass <a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/25/north-dakota-oil-pipeline-protest-arrests-journalists-filmmakers\">arrest of over 140 people</a> and was held in jail for two nights. She said that police seized her camera and SD cards. When she was released from jail, police returned her camera but not the SD cards.</p><p data-block-key=\"qs1nl\">Lafleur-Vetter was initially charged with criminal trespass and engaging in a riot. Those charges were dismissed on June 8, 2017.</p><p data-block-key=\"koudo\">But on May 17, 2017, Lafleur-Vetter was charged with three other misdemeanors: physical obstruction of a government function, disobedience of safety orders during a riot, and disorderly conduct.</p><p data-block-key=\"sihua\">On Oct. 18, nearly a year after she was first arrested, Lafleur-Vetter appeared at the Morton County courthouse for a trial before surrogate judge Thomas Merrick. She was the first journalist to be tried in connection with the Dakota Access Pipeline protests. She was acquitted on all charges, <a href=\"http://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/journalist-acquitted-of-protest-charges/article_a2f92dda-f481-5355-8685-977c4ab50ec2.html\">according to the Tribune</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"hllgk\">“There's no evidence against her," judge Merrick said at the trial. "All it shows is she was working."</p><p data-block-key=\"ko92w\">After the trial, police returned Lafleur-Vetter's SD cards to her.</p><p data-block-key=\"m1imb\">Lafleur-Vetter said that she believes that the charges brought against her were intended to scare other journalists and deter them from covering protests.</p></div>",
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"arresting_authority": "Morton County Sheriff's Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2017-11-24",
"detention_date": "2017-11-22",
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"state": {
"name": "North Dakota",
"abbreviation": "ND"
},
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"tags": [
"environmentalism",
"protest"
],
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{
"title": "Citizen journalist Nydia Tisdale arrested and attacked by police officer while filming rally",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/citizen-journalist-nydia-tisdale-arrested-and-attacked-police-officer-while-filming-rally/",
"first_published_at": "2018-01-12T01:29:25.162296Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-03T18:38:43.984745Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-03T18:38:43.853434Z",
"date": "2014-08-23",
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"city": "Dawsonville",
"longitude": -84.11908,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"u4o5p\">Nydia Tisdale, an independent video journalist, was arrested and charged with criminal trespass and obstruction of an officer while filming Republican candidates’ speeches at a rally in Dawsonville, Georgia, on Aug. 23, 2014.</p><p data-block-key=\"2k4rr\">On Dec. 4, 2017, Tisdale was convicted of misdemeanor obstruction of a law enforcement officer but acquitted of felony charges.</p><p data-block-key=\"3as6q\">Tisdale runs and owns AboutForsyth, an independent news website, and regularly documents and films videos of public meetings.</p><p data-block-key=\"8of8a\">She told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that, on Aug. 23, 2014, she <a href=\"https://www.ajc.com/blog/politics/how-plan-keep-gop-rally-off-the-internet-went-awry/gijfGSmnnhmrPBJaH8LZfP/\">attended a rally</a> for Republican candidates at Burt’s Farm, a private pumpkin farm in Dawsonville, Georgia.</p><p data-block-key=\"eydlw\">As she was filming the speeches, she said, she was physically accosted by Dawson County Sheriff’s Office Captain Tony Wooten.</p><p data-block-key=\"i8q08\">“Fifteen minutes into the rally, I was attacked,” Tisdale said. “I was grabbed out of my chair, twisted up, and one hand was yanked off my tripod. I was pushed and pulled and dragged and spinned in circles, and [Wooten] twisted my arm behind my back, and forced me into the barn, and slammed me against the countertop.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-video\">\n\n<figure class=\"inline-media full-width\">\n <div style=\"padding-bottom: 56.25%;\" class=\"responsive-object\">\n <iframe width=\"480\" height=\"270\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/sMIsF8z4Lxg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\n</div>\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n \n <p data-block-key=\"pk9k5\">Tisdale's video of her arrest</p>\n \n \n <p>Nydia Tisdale</p>\n \n </figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"wn9f7\">In video of the altercation recorded by Tisdale, she can be heard repeatedly asking Wooten, “What is your name? What is your name, sir?”</p><p data-block-key=\"0mm97\">Wooten refuses to give her his name and says, “I’ve been real nice, but now you’re going to jail for resisting arrest.”</p><p data-block-key=\"vdmka\">“You’ll see [my name] on the warrant when we get to the jail,” he tells her at another point in the video.</p><p data-block-key=\"wu6vp\">Tisdale protests that she has the right to film the public rally — “this was a public event posted on Facebook by [Georgia] governor [Nathan] Deal,” she says — and claims that she received permission to film from Kathy Burt, who owns Burt’s Farm along with her husband.</p><p data-block-key=\"j4su9\">“I spoke with several candidates, and they didn’t mind,” she says. “Kathy Burt said it was OK. I spoke with her when I first arrived!”</p><p data-block-key=\"ezhwu\">In the video, Johnny Burt says that she does not permission to film the rally: “Listen, I’m the owner and I say no.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3vm3m\">Burt’s Farm did not respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"6gocm\">The video ends shortly after Wooten forcibly pushes away Tisdale’s camera, at which point Tisdale can be heard screaming off-screen, “Ow, that hurts! You’re hurting me! You are really hurting me!”</p><p data-block-key=\"awrtk\">Tisdale told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that after the video was shut off, two uniformed Dawson County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived to take her into custody. At this point, she said, Wooten finally revealed his name and formally placed her under arrest, but did not give a reason for the arrest or read Tisdale her Miranda rights.</p><p data-block-key=\"11nmc\">Tisdale was eventually charged with felony obstruction, felony trespassing, and misdemeanor obstruction of an officer. At trial, prosecutors accused her of elbowing and kicking Wooten.</p><p data-block-key=\"19867\">The Dawson County Sheriff’s Office seized Tisdale’s camera when she was arrested and held it in custody for six days before returning it to her.</p><p data-block-key=\"en8e1\">Tisdale believes that the police may have edited her video footage of the altercation.</p><p data-block-key=\"dtzf7\">She said that she checked the video footage on her camera once it was returned to her and noticed that her video footage had been split into two separate videos, and the portion of the video in which she could be heard screaming had been inexplicably deleted.</p><p data-block-key=\"7885h\">An audio recording of the incident, captured by Brian Pritchard of FetchYourNews, clearly shows that Tisdale screamed for help during the altercation.</p><p data-block-key=\"ql3fa\">Dawson County Sheriff Billy Carlisle <a href=\"https://www.ajc.com/blog/politics/the-case-the-six-missing-screams/K7N1LAwBomt4ItSjnS9jnI/\">told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution</a> that the department had not edited Tisdale’s video footage.</p><p data-block-key=\"23lrq\">Tisdale said that she had bruises on her arms, feet, and pelvic region for days after the altercation and had trouble eating and sleeping.</p><p data-block-key=\"tg5gc\">In August 2016, Tisdale filed a sexual assault complaint against Captain Tony Wooten, alleging that he pushed his crotch into her buttocks while he bent her over a countertop. That case was stayed pending the outcome of the criminal charges against Tisdale.</p><p data-block-key=\"mabwf\">On Aug. 8, 2016, Tony Wooten resigned from the Dawson County Sheriff’s Office.</p><p data-block-key=\"762kh\">On Dec. 4, 2017, a Dawsonville jury <a href=\"https://www.myajc.com/news/breaking-news/jury-acquits-tisdale-felony-charge-but-convicts-her-misdemeanor/CT3exwSzkDHu8GsbiOGBCK/\">convicted</a> Tisdale on a misdemeanor charge of obstruction of an officer, but acquitted her of felony charges of obstruction and trespassing.</p><p data-block-key=\"esyf5\">“This is a partial victory, but not a complete victory, and I maintain my innocence of all charges,” Tisdale told the Freedom of the Press Foundation. “Video recording is not a crime.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2lmvx\">On Dec. 18, 2017, Tisdale was sentenced to 12 months probation, 40 hours of community service, and a $1000 fine.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ao7uk\">A screengrab from Nydia Tisdale's video shows Dawsonville County Sheriff's Office deputy Tony Wooten pushing her into a countertop before taking her into custody.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "Georgia",
"abbreviation": "GA"
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"Assault",
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"Equipment Damage"
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"Nydia Tisdale (Independent)"
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}
]
